The Cray S-MP was a
multiprocessor
Multiprocessing is the use of two or more central processing units (CPUs) within a single computer system. The term also refers to the ability of a system to support more than one processor or the ability to allocate tasks between them. There ar ...
server computer
In computing, a server is a piece of computer hardware or software ( computer program) that provides functionality for other programs or devices, called " clients". This architecture is called the client–server model. Servers can provide var ...
sold by
Cray Research
Cray Inc., a subsidiary of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, is an American supercomputer manufacturer headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It also manufactures systems for data storage and analytics. Several Cray supercomputer systems are listed i ...
from 1992 to 1993. It was based on the
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
SPARC
SPARC (Scalable Processor Architecture) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture originally developed by Sun Microsystems. Its design was strongly influenced by the experimental Berkeley RISC system developed ...
microprocessor
A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit, or a small number of integrated circuits. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circu ...
architecture and could be configured with up to eight 66 MHz
BIT
The bit is the most basic unit of information in computing and digital communications. The name is a portmanteau of binary digit. The bit represents a logical state with one of two possible values. These values are most commonly represente ...
B5000 processors. Optionally, a
Cray APP The Cray APP (''Attached Parallel Processor'') was a parallel computer sold by Cray Research from 1992 onwards. It was based on the Intel i860 microprocessor and could be configured with up to 84 processors. The design was based on "computational no ...
matrix
Matrix most commonly refers to:
* ''The Matrix'' (franchise), an American media franchise
** ''The Matrix'', a 1999 science-fiction action film
** "The Matrix", a fictional setting, a virtual reality environment, within ''The Matrix'' (franchis ...
co-processor
A coprocessor is a computer processor used to supplement the functions of the primary processor (the CPU). Operations performed by the coprocessor may be floating-point arithmetic, graphics, signal processing, string processing, cryptography o ...
cluster could be added to an S-MP system.
The S-MP was originally designed by
FPS Computing
Floating Point Systems, Inc. (FPS), was a Beaverton, Oregon vendor of attached array processors and minisupercomputers. The company was founded in 1970 by former Tektronix engineer Norm Winningstad, with partners Tom Prince, Frank Bouton and Robe ...
as the FPS Model 500EA. FPS were acquired by Cray Research in 1991, becoming Cray Research Superservers Inc., and the Model 500EA was relaunched by Cray in 1992 as the S-MP.
The S-MP was a short-lived model, and was superseded by the
Cray CS6400
The Cray Superserver 6400, or CS6400, is a discontinued multiprocessor server computer system produced by Cray Research Superservers, Inc., a subsidiary of Cray Research, and launched in 1993. The CS6400 was also sold as the Amdahl SPARCsummit 6400 ...
.
References
''New Computer by Cray Research Uses Sun Processor'', New York TimesCockcroft, Adrian and Pettit, Richard (1998), ''Sun Performance and Tuning: Java and the Internet'', Sun Microsystems.
{{Cray computers
Smp
Supercomputers